Common Mistakes Made when Selling a Home

Selling a home in itself is stressful enough but being unprepared could lead to some very expensive mistakes that could be avoided. Here is a list of the top 10 mistakes to avoid for a smoother transaction when selling your home:

1. Unprepared Home for Sale
In today’s market, staging or preparing your home for sale is of utmost importance. The discerning buyers are tough and will not take a second look at a home that is not prepared properly.

2. Setting Your Price too High or Low
High price is a detriment into a sale. Your home is only worth what the buyers are prepared to pay. Overpricing only aggravates buyers and puts you on the “do not call list”. Low pricing your home on the other hand can have a similar effect. Trust your Realtor to price the home right for your neighbourhood and the market. This is where experience comes in as far as choosing a qualified home pricing Realtor. If the price is too good of a deal the buyers might wonder “what’s wrong with the house”.

3. Home Inspection Short Cut
Doing it right the first time will avoid you pain in the long run. The home inspection field is not a governmental regulated industry so do your homework. Talk to friends and neighbours about who they have used to inspect their home. Your Realtor deals with inspectors daily check with them as to who they recommend for the work done. Realtors follow a strict, regulated code of conduct so they have standards to uphold even in their recommendations of home inspection companies.

4. Short-Changing Buyer’s Agent Commission
The Agent is bringing you a sale isn’t that what you’re after? So what’s the point in short-changing?
The agent will have qualified the buyer and make sure that his ducks are in order which is not something the sellers would address. Keep focus on the goal here: Sold sign on the yard.

5. No Photos Please
You’ve heard it said that “photos are worth a thousand words”. It has been proven that if people have a choice at looking at just one picture or 20 they will look where there are more photos. So make sure that your agent has plenty of them and emphasize the space. If you are selling in the winter where the gardens or yards are hidden make sure to give your Realtor some summer shots. So take some photos of your yards at the peak of summer if you decide to sell in the fall or winter you’ll have them on hand. Take advantage of the Visual tours that your agent offers.

6.Not Listing Your Home on the MLS System
This would be comparable to owning a business but not wanting it listed on Google search site. It would pretty much be suicidal for that business. So, let your listing be posted on the MLS and let the Buyers access it through Realtor.ca which is where most people will look for homes. Oh! By the way, 86% of people search for homes online. That’s where you need to be if you are selling.

7. Setting Restricted Times for Showings
If you put your house on the market you need to be realistically open to having your home showed to potential buyers when they are available. Which might mean early morning or later in the evening. People understand when life’s circumstance prevent showings such as shift workers or parents to new born and little tikes but making it so restrictive such as “Wednesday viewing only between 2 and 3 pm” will mean that your house will not sell. Don’t waste your time and be as flexible as possible. The quicker the sale the less showings there will be.

8. Disregarding Showing Requests
Again here you want to be able to respond quickly to the requests of agents who are bringing potential Buyers to see your home. The agent could be sitting in your driveway and just happened to drive by with the clients and your home perked their interest. You don’t want to miss a potential sale.

9. Wrong Advertising
If you’ve read up to this part you will have read that 86% of people search for homes online so why would you as a seller insist on having your home published in all the magazines and newspapers? This is a real emotional issue as homeowners like to see their home in lights and some agents do promote this as a sure thing Marketing but the reality is it does not sell your home. A good agent sells home, not a magazine.

10. Open-House Burn-out
Holding an Open House doesn’t need to be a weekly option to selling your home. Most agents will tell you that having an Open House does not sell your home. And that is a fact but 1 out of 10 buyers will attend an open house and all you need is just one buyer.